Beulah and Barnabas Stephen, the youngest couple at this year’s CCF Annual Retreat, got married on 13 December 2025. As they reflected on their journey as a family, one truth stood above everything else: the mercy of God has kept them.
Sharing their testimony at the retreat, the couple said their journey has not been without storms. They have passed through seasons that tested their faith, stretched their patience, and brought them to moments when they had to remind themselves that God remains God, even when His ways are difficult to understand.
One of their greatest challenges has been their health and their longing for a child. They have spent a significant portion of their resources on medical consultations, tests, medications, and hospital visits. Yet, after several examinations, doctors sometimes found no clear explanation for what they were experiencing.
Their desire for a child made the waiting even more difficult. On some occasions, a pregnancy test would appear positive, filling their hearts with joy and expectation, only for subsequent hospital tests to bring disappointment.
Those moments brought tears, questions and the painful cry, “Lord, when?” Yet, through the waiting, they said God has been teaching them a deeper lesson: faith cannot be built only on what the eyes can see.
Although their circumstances could have made them doubt God’s faithfulness, they have chosen to hold on to His promises. They may not understand every delay, have answers to every medical report, or know when every prayer will be answered, but they know the One who holds their future; and that has been enough.
They said they are sharing their testimony not because every prayer has been answered or everything has become perfect, but because God has been faithful through the process. He has kept them together, preserved their love, provided for them when their resources were stretched, strengthened them in moments of weakness, and given them hope when circumstances seemed bleak.
For the couple, the testimony is simple: sometimes the miracle is not only in the answer we are waiting for; sometimes the miracle is the grace to keep standing while we wait. They have therefore chosen faith over fear, hope over disappointment, and God’s Word over circumstances.
Their story, they believe, is still being written. What may look like a delay is not necessarily a denial, and what they cannot understand today, God understands completely.
With grateful hearts, they declared:
“Ebenezer! Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
The storms have been real, but so has His mercy.
The tears have been real, but so has His comfort.
The waiting has been real, but so has His grace.
Whatever tomorrow brings, they said they will continue to declare: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Their family, they affirmed, is a testimony of God’s mercy; their journey, a testimony of His grace; and their future remains in the hands of a faithful God.